


Acts of Service

by nothlits



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Acts of Kindness, Caretaking, Cooking, Healthy Relationships, M/M, Polythieves (Persona 5), doting boyfriend tries to make dinner, takes place 2 years post-game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:48:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23234251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothlits/pseuds/nothlits
Summary: It wasn’t that Ryuji particularly liked cooking — or cleaning, or housekeeping, or any of that stuff. It was a chore, just like it was for anyone else. Now that he was arguably an adult, he could have shed that responsibility. He could have let his apartment stagnate, and he could have eaten junk food for every meal. But he still had other people to take care of.When your love language differs from those around you, sometimes you have to translate.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Mishima Yuuki, Amamiya Ren/Sakamoto Ryuji, Kurusu Akira/Mishima Yuuki, Kurusu Akira/Mishima Yuuki/Sakamoto Ryuji, Kurusu Akira/Sakamoto Ryuji, Mishima Yuuki/Persona 5 Protagonist, Mishima Yuuki/Sakamoto Ryuji, Persona 5 Protagonist/Sakamoto Ryuji, pegoryushima
Comments: 14
Kudos: 142





	Acts of Service

**Author's Note:**

> this was originally a 3 part collection examining ryuji, mishima, and ren all having different love languages and ways of expressing themselves in their relationships, but i've been sitting on this for eight months now and i'd rather just upload it as a cute oneshot.

It wasn’t that Ryuji particularly _liked_ cooking — or cleaning, or housekeeping, or any of that stuff. It was a chore, just like it was for anyone else. But while his mom worked long days and double shifts just to keep a roof over their heads, keeping the house in order was sometimes all he could do in return. If she was working herself to the point of exhaustion for his sake, the least he could do was put food on the table for her every night. So, he took pride in that. Maybe he had to cancel plans every once in a while to rush home after school to make sure he had time to do the laundry, sweep the kitchen, and prepare dinner. But it was worth it to see the relief on his mom’s face when she came home from work, drained, ready to collapse into bed, and realized she wouldn’t have to lift a finger. 

She kissed his head, called him her sweet boy, thanked him. It was the only time for a long time that he felt appreciated.

Now that he was arguably an adult, on his own without his mother to dote on, he could have shed that responsibility. He could have let his apartment stagnate, and he _could_ have eaten junk food for every meal. But he still had other people to take care of, regardless of whether that included himself.

Every time he came home from work and caught Ren and Yuuki lounging on the couch in pajamas, sharing an entire bag of pizza rolls, or surrounded by empty snack cake boxes and little plastic wrappers, he felt like he failed somehow. He wasn’t doing the caretaking, and he clearly couldn’t trust them to do it themselves. And he couldn’t express that in words. They would only reassure him of what he knew was true — that they were all adults, and they could fend for themselves, and at least they were eating, and it wasn’t a big deal that they subsisted on nothing but carbs and sugar.

It was worse when Yuuki was away for days, busy with school and crashing in his dorm to save himself the commute — when Ryuji wasn’t certain he was eating at all. He always came back home looking a little worse, a little more worn thin. Even if Yuuki was in the apartment, if Ren wasn’t there with him, Ryuji wasn’t sure he ate. He admitted that he often forgot. And that felt like another failing on Ryuji’s part. They were supposed to take care of each other, and he couldn’t even make sure his boyfriends were well-fed.

At the same time, he felt like he was doing the relationship equivalent of helicopter parenting, always after both of them with “Have you eaten?”, “Was it a _real_ meal or just junk?”, “D’you want lunch? Dinner? A snack?”

Ren only laughed him off, assured him that he wasn’t starving to death, and told him he was worried about nothing and that his maternal instinct was cute. He’d give him a kiss and tell him to settle down and let himself relax. And he would try.

Yuuki was more receptive. He hadn’t quite reached the level of coming to Ryuji to ask for food directly, but if Ryuji offered, he would always get embarrassed, and nod, and quietly thank him, like he was just waiting around for an opportunity to be taken care of. It wasn’t a surprise or a secret that he enjoyed being physically cared for. He had always been clingier than Ren was, less used to forced independence. Yuuki had taken his loneliness and turned it into a desperate need for compassion, whereas Ren’s had been transformed into a contentment with being on his own. Ryuji was somewhere in between.

Yuuki would help him in the kitchen, but he would always ask first, like he was afraid to get in the way. The kitchen in their apartment was small and, although Ryuji appreciated the help, he often ended up shooing his well-meaning boyfriend out to wait on the couch. Ren, used to working in Leblanc’s crowded kitchen space, would come in, hold Ryuji’s hips to shove past him from behind, grab junk food from the fridge, and then dash away before Ryuji could yell at him that he was _in the middle of making dinner._ He usually only got half-assed apologies or laughter in response. It hurt. Probably more than it should have.

He decided to return to old habits in hopes that those same habits would give him the same sense of being appreciated that they had in the past. Despite all three of their chaotic schedules, he started trying to have dinner done when he knew someone would be coming home. There would be leftovers in the fridge, intended to be work lunches or midnight snacks for all three of them. It was hard, and it took a lot of his leftover energy after working all day to come home and spend an hour in the kitchen, but he felt like it was worth it. He felt like he had to do it, because no one else would.

Yuuki would always ask before taking. Each time he'd hesitantly ask "Is this for me?" and hold up a covered plate of food set aside in the fridge left from an earlier meal.

Ryuji leaned his head back from where he was sitting on the couch and eyed him with a smile. "’Course it's for you. You weren't home for dinner." 

"Oh, sorry. Class just went a little late, and then I missed my train and— I really meant to be here. Sorry, I know it means a lot to you." 

Ryuji waved a hand at him to express that he wasn't bothered, and Yuuki retreated long enough to heat up his dinner before returning and settling on the couch, snuggled up close to Ryuji's side. 

He leaned up and kissed Ryuji's cheek. "Thanks for dinner." 

Ryuji grinned and put his arm around Yuuki to hold him while he ate, relishing in the happy noise he made from the combination of food and physical comfort. Years in and he still found ways to bowl Ryuji over with how cute he could be. 

"You gotta start takin' lunches with you to school. I'll make 'em for you if it means you're not gonna come back home actin' like you're starvin' to death." Ryuji tried to sound more concerned and less harshly critical. 

"Oh, that'd be… um, really helpful, probably… I just get so busy I forget, or it's too much trouble to go find something to buy." Yuuki leaned his head against Ryuji and pressed his face there for a moment, muffling his speech. "And your cooking is really good." 

Ryuji laughed and ruffled his hair. "Got yourself a real househusband, huh?" 

"Yeah, Ren's not much for housework. Guess he'll be stuck as a bachelor." Yuuki leaned up and angled his head for a kiss, and giggled when he got one. 

"I'll make you lunches." Ryuji rested his cheek on Yuuki's head. "Just gonna be dinner leftovers probably, unless you want me to whip out my kickass bento skills." 

"No, no, no! Leftovers is fine! Don't go all out like that just for me! I already appreciate you so much, you don't need to do that!" Yuuki set his empty plate aside and turned to hug Ryuji's neck. "You're so good to me. To us." 

Ryuji squeezed him tightly. "I try." 

Yet Ren would still come home from his late night coffeeshop shifts with fast food. He would still wiggle his way past Ryuji to get cake out of the fridge while Ryuji was trying to get dinner plated. 

Ryuji stuck out his leg to block Ren's path, but Ren just laughed and tried to force his way past. Ryuji used his full body to block instead, chest to chest.

"Put it back. I'm making dinner for you _right now,_ dude." Ryuji crossed his arms, standing his ground. 

"I'm just gonna eat this." Ren's grin faded into a smaller, nervous smile and he tried to step by again. Ryuji moved with him. "What's the problem?"

"The _problem,"_ Ryuji glared Ren down, exasperated. "Is that I'm literally about to put dinner on a plate for you and me so we can eat together and you're in here tryin' to sneak past me and you _always do this."_ He reached over and turned a burner off.

"It's not that big of a—"

"It _is._ To me." Ryuji's tone softened and he leaned back against the counter so Ren could pass if he wanted to, but he just stood there, holding his precious cake to his chest.

"You don't have to make me dinner. I keep telling you that."

"I know that. I don't _have_ to do anything for you, but— I want to. I wanna know you're gettin' vegetables and protein in your system and not just—" Ryuji groaned and ran a hand through his hair. "Look, my mom used to do the same shit. She worked all day and she wouldn't eat right, and she’d get sick, and it stressed me out, so… I started makin' her dinner every night and makin' her lunches so I would _know_ she was eatin', and— just… Let me take care of you. Please." 

Ren set his food down on the counter and moved in close to hug Ryuji's neck tight. Ryuji's arms went around his waist and they stood, holding each other in silence for a few moments. 

"I'm sorry, babe…" Ren mumbled against his neck and squeezed him. "I didn't understand, I'm sorry…" 

"I make you dinner cuz I love you. And when you refuse to let me do that, it's like… you don't care. Like you're rejectin' me. Like you don’t want me around." Ryuji let go of him to hold him at arm's length. 

"What? No… It's… it's complicated." Ren lowered his glance to the floor, then stepped back. "Let's get dinner finished and we can talk, okay?" 

Ren stepped away and began pulling plates down from the cabinet. Ryuji plated their food and they both moved to sit at the table together. Yuuki wouldn't be home for several hours.

Ryuji waited for Ren to start eating before he touched his own food, a habit leftover from wanting to see the look of satisfaction at first bite on his mom's face. Ren didn't make any face at all, he only looked embarrassed. 

"Taste okay?" Ryuji offered him a smile. 

"Yeah, it's good. It's always good, I just feel like an asshole…" Ren wouldn't look at him and instead played with his food idly, eyes on his plate. 

"I'm not that mad. It's not a big deal, man…" 

"It is. You just said it was in explicit detail." Ren put his hands in his lap. "I just… I guess I felt like a… like a burden if you were cooking for me—"

"Ren…"

"I know. I know you do it because you want to, I'm just… I've been alone a lot. My parents were never home, I never got stuff done for me like this. I had to do everything on my own, so I… It's been hard. To accept." Ren’s voice wavered. He took a deep breath and rubbed at an eye under his glasses. 

Ryuji reached across the table and motioned for Ren to give him his hand, so he did. 

"You are _not_ alone anymore. You don't gotta be." He squeezed Ren's hand. "But we gotta communicate this stuff so I know you're not just intentionally avoidin' everything I try to do for you like it’s an Olympic effin’ sport."

"I'm not. I'm just dense. And ungrateful." Ren pulled his hand back and began eating again.

"Yeah, sometimes." Ryuji grinned and followed suit. "But you're cute, so I guess it's fine." 

"You're being sarcastic so I guess you're over it." Ren smiled across at him between bites. "You satisfied seeing me eat your cooking?" 

"I mean, yeah. Makes me happy to be able to just do somethin' for you, y'know? To know somethin' I did matters. Even if work is shit, if you can come home to a warm dinner made with love it's cool, right?" 

"Aw, Ryuji… Jesus…" Ren covered his face with his hands. "Now I really feel bad. That's so sweet…" He laughed, then sat up straight and made eye contact across the table. "I love you so much. And I'm going to be more attentive. And more receptive. Just be patient with me. Tackle me to the kitchen floor to keep me in line if you need to." 

"Then you'd bust your head open on the floor and we'd have another problem." Ryuji grinned at him, sliding his free hand over the table to hold Ren's again. "You could just behave. And talk about your feelings." 

"Yeah. I could." Ren looked away again. "I will."


End file.
